European countries aiming to meet the WEEE Directive should concentrate efforts on the treatment of electronic waste, rather than worrying about collections, writes Adam Hooker in Barcelona.
That is the advice from Spanish recycling expert Jos© Ramin Carbajosa, who told Bureau of International Recycling members this week that EU Member States are already collecting enough waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). He said the more pressing problem was finding sufficient recycling capacity for the collected WEEE.
Mr Carbajosa is director general at Ecolec, which represents “the majority” of small and large electrical goods producers in Spain and has carried out research on the collection of WEEE across Europe.
Europe’s WEEE Directive makes producers of electrical items responsible for meeting recycling targets for items collected separately from the general waste stream. It also sets collection targets for WEEE, but Mr Carbojosa said many of these targets are already being achieved across the EU.
He said: “When talk of the WEEE Directive first came about, people were saying we would need this incredibly complicated system, but for collection we already have one in place. We do not have the treatment facilities in place, though.”
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